/r/homelab

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Welcome to your friendly /r/homelab, where techies and sysadmin from everywhere are welcome to share their labs, projects, builds, etc.

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Subreddit Rules

  • Please see the full rules page for details on the rules, but the jist of it is:

  • Don't be an asshole.

  • Post about your homelab, discussion of your homelab, questions you may have, or general discussion about transition your skill from the homelab to the workplace.

  • No memes or potato images.

  • We love detailed homelab builds, especially network diagrams!

  • Report any posts that you feel should be brought to our attention.

  • Please flair your posts when posting.

  • Please no shitposting or blogspam.

  • No Referral Linking.

  • Keep piracy discussion off of this subreddit.

  • All sales posts and online offers should be posted in /r/homelabsales.

Wiki

  • Before posting please read the wiki, there is always content being added and it could save you a lot of time and hassle.

  • Feel like helping out your fellow labber? Contribute to the wiki! It's a great help for everybody, just remember to keep the formatting please.

Discord

  • We have an official, partnered Discord server which is great for all kinds of discussions and questions, invite link is clickable button at the top of the sidebar or right here.. Come and say hello!

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/r/homelab

735,799 Subscribers

2

What are you using to manage docker deployments across devices?

I'm currently running Docker containers on both a Raspberry Pi and a Dell Optiplex, with my MacBook Air as the primary device for remote configuration.

While I use docker-compose.yml for deployments, I'm looking for a more efficient and scalable solution to manage, deploy, and monitor my Docker applications across these devices.

Chat-GPT suggests the following options... what are you all using?

View Poll

0 Comments
2024/12/21
20:59 UTC

2

Cheap way to hook 2 HDD to mini PC with USB 3.2?

Looking for a cheap way (around $50) to run 2 3.5" HDDs with a mini PC. I don't want a $200 NAS that costs more than the mini PC itself.

Would something like this be good? https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Docking-Tool-Free-Installation-EC-CH2B/dp/B09646W9PX/

2 Comments
2024/12/21
20:50 UTC

2

Have old i5 2500k ATX midtower gaming PC ala 2011. I want to replace the mobo/cpu/ram with something more modern and power efficient. What to get? Asrock mATX N100? Anything better?

Running Frigate NVR, NAS duties, homeasssistant, immich, and a few other things.

Is the ASROCK N100 any good?

Is there a better option thats like under $300? Needs to fit in a standard ATX case.

0 Comments
2024/12/21
20:43 UTC

4

Anyone here have expertise in enterprise hardware? Specifically motherboards.

I have some motherboards that may have been stocked to deploy in a data center. I'm looking to identify them and their specs. I can't find a darn thing on them. I'd appreciate any help identifying them. Also I don't have any Xeon CPU's so I can't boot them into Bios, otherwise I would have done that first. I was able to find out from the MAC address that the vendor was Wistron Infocomm (Zhongshan) Corporation. Here's a photo of one of them:

https://preview.redd.it/jbu0sxg9i98e1.jpg?width=5492&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0944ff1eafdf86182447481f77c041a17a60746d

0 Comments
2024/12/21
20:37 UTC

2

External drive enclosue for an intel nuc

Hi ive recently bought an 8th gen intel nuc (i5 variant) and i wanted to ask if anyone knows about having an external hard drive enclouse that could connect using thunder bolt or usb or something at this point. also i would like it to be cheap and not really expensive. thanks

1 Comment
2024/12/21
20:36 UTC

1

8x4x4x bifurcation with mb supports only 4x4x4x4x

Hi,

I bought a 8x4x4x expansion card with 2x m.2 slots and one 8x pcie slot.
My motherboard manual B650e-i Asus says it only supports 4x4x4x4x.

Currently the expansion card detects only the 8x pcie slot where I have 8x pcie 3 mellanox connectx4 card which is running at 8x speed. But the 2 m.2 ssds are not detected. Is this how it should be?

2 Comments
2024/12/21
19:14 UTC

1

Drive Failure Notifications

Is there any free software that I could install on my server in case of a drive failure on my network storage drive? It needs to be windows software, because my server runs windows. I have 2 of these 8TB Seagate Drives, with one doing a nightly backup to the other. I have windows installed on an ssd, as my boot drive. But is there any software that could notify me (Text, Phone notification, email) of a drive failure, so I can get a new drive as soon as possible?

3 Comments
2024/12/21
19:00 UTC

2

First Homelab build based on Laptop, Help

I want to try my hand in creating a homelab for the first time and I'm trying to start off using an old Lenovo laptop. I noticed there is an unpopulated slot that could possibly fit a smaller 2230 SSD and I was wondering if I can use that as the boot slot while keeping the full SSD for storage slot. What I have is the Lenovo Thinkpad L15 Gen1 with Intel core i5. I can't seem to find any information if that slot can be used for a boot drive.

3 Comments
2024/12/21
18:53 UTC

1

Error: An error occurred while communicating with the remote host.

Hi All,

I'm seeing this error and not able to figure what the issue is, this only happens when I try to migrate the last port from vSS to vDS, there is no portgroup configuration assiciated with this, just trying to migrate the port.

Earlier I thought this was due to changing the name of the Uplinks, and found this Migrate ESXi from vSS to vDS v7.0 - Fails: ThrowableProxy.cause - Technology Blogs - Primarily focusing on Virtualization / Hybrid Cloud (shuttletitan.com)

Error: An error occurred while communicating with the remote host.
Network Configuration change disconnected the host from vCenter server and has been rolled back.
ThrowableProxy.cause
A change in the network configuration disconnected the host from vCenter Server. The change has been rolled back.

But even if I don't change the uplink names still see this error, and found this explanation from VMware

Networking Configuration Operation Is Rolled Back and a Host Is Disconnected from vCenter Server (vmware.com)

Can someone confirm this fix works for this issue ?

I have been working on this for the whole week now, and not able to find where the issue lies..

Thank You

0 Comments
2024/12/21
18:36 UTC

0

Exotic Linux server distros

I don't like how Debian and ubuntu have these decades of legacy cruft, with 20 commands that do the same thing but kept for compatibility, what's a modern server distro, Ive been running nixos for the past couple of years and its been fine, but I want to try something more exotic, preferably using systemd, I even contemplated using arch

Also, this is my home server, I'm not looking for rock solid decade long uptime, I mostly do it for fun and don't care if it requires tweaking to work

21 Comments
2024/12/21
18:07 UTC

2

Any options for a stat screen?

Has anyone ever seen any options for some kind of screen tied to your home lab? What I mean is something like those little 0.96" or 1.3" I2C screens to show some stats like cpu and ram usage or maybe hard drive usage.

I did install a 1.3" I2C screen in my mini raspberry pi desktop.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4800685

Honestly that was largely someone else's work that I tweaked for my own needs. I don't really know python. I'm not sure I could figure out how to get info from a whole proxmox cluster, or a whole pool in truenas, etc.

I think such a thing mounted in the rack would be at least mildly practical, and for aesthetics, I think it would be the chefs kiss to an otherwise awesome looking rack setup.

1 Comment
2024/12/21
17:46 UTC

1

HP Proliant DL380p Gen8 with Proxmox, ZFS and HBA Problem

I have an HP Proliant DL380p Gen8 with 2 - p420 controlers in HBA mode. As known the Server will not boot from the disks in HBA mode.

So, i tried this https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/ap9usf/comment/hhqazor/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3 from user mmaridev

I installed Proxmox with USB disk and created Raidz-3 on the disks. After that i deleted the partitions on all 16 disks.

After reboot i installed Proxmox on SD Card. i tried to delete the ZFS Partition from SD Card but it fails. After a new reboot the system boots from SD Card but in this moment i have 2 rpools.

One active with 1TB (on SD Card) and one with 15TB(16 disks from first install) with an name "rpool-OLD-some numbers" that i cannot use and store data on it.

Is it possible to delete the rpool from 1TB SD Card and point Proxomx to rename and use the first created "OLD rpool"?

Or, how to install Proxmox and then just move grub to SD Card?

0 Comments
2024/12/21
17:41 UTC

0

Homelab Server Recommendation

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some recommendations for upgrading or future-proofing my homelab server. Right now, I’ve got a spare system running a Ryzen 4500G, 32GB of RAM, and 800GB of storage (no GPU). It’s set up with Proxmox and currently running 7 LXCs and 1 VM:

LXCs:

  • AdGuard
  • Docker -> Homarr Dashboard
  • Jellyfin
  • Prowlarr
  • Sonarr
  • Radarr
  • OpenWRT

VM:

  • Minecraft server

Down the line, I’m planning to add a lot more—it’s not just going to be for me (me and a friend). The main idea is to use it as a test environment for code snippets, malware, etc. I’m also planning to set up:

  • Some sort of image/video storage like Immich
  • Dedicated game servers

I’ll also need a ton of storage for media in Jellyfin. I eventually plan on setting up some kind of storage pool (once I figure out ZFS pools or RAID drives—they don’t seem too complicated). I might try TrueNAS Scale or Unraid for that.

What would you recommend for upgrading or building a new server to handle all this? Let me know your thoughts!

Appreciate the help !

7 Comments
2024/12/21
17:15 UTC

2

Creating a Laptop Shell vs Remote Desktop via Ethernet

I love laptops. My favorite thing is lying in bed with my laptop on my chest, playing games, watching YouTube, or movies. I've bought very expensive laptops, but the issue I have with them is that they're never as powerful or last as long as desktops.

So, I had a thought. My plan was to essentially create the "bed-laptop" experience with a desktop by building a dummy laptop with no internals that connected both the keyboard and display to a desktop located at my desk (not far from my bed). I would route the cables around to make it work.

I really have no idea how to do this and figured I'd have to build something pretty custom. It would probably require a lot of design work and tinkering. That way, I could enjoy a desktop from the comfort of my bed, and it would feel exactly like having a laptop in bed.

However, I have a question about this. The whole reason I wanted to go this route was because I assumed that gaming through a remote desktop application from a cheap laptop into a powerful desktop would lead to slower responsiveness, higher ping, and a worse overall experience.

But am I going about this the wrong way? Would it be virtually identical if I connected a cheap laptop to a desktop with an Ethernet cable and used remote desktop software? Are there any services designed for this use case?

Another thought I had was that with products like GeForce Now becoming more popular, I realized how little I know about these sorts of remote connections and their performance in this context.

My question is:

What would be the smartest way to re-create the "laptop in bed" experience while still getting the high performance of a gaming laptop but actually using a desktop?

The 3 options that come to mind are:

  1. Custom Laptop Shell Route display cables and a keyboard connection to a desktop in my room through a customized laptop shell that I make myself. This shell would have a "laptop display" and keyboard within itself.
  2. Remote Desktop Remote into my high-powered desktop from a cheap laptop, likely connecting the cheap laptop to my desktop via an Ethernet cable.
  3. Virtual Machine (VM) Spin up a VM on the desktop and access the VM from the laptop. (This one seems like it makes the least sense, but I included it anyway.)
3 Comments
2024/12/21
16:43 UTC

1

Looking at where to start for Linux domain controller/login master

Howdy all, I'm looking to setup a small system linux server; connect to linux pcs/windows vms and some local storage etc

I've mostly worked on windows profesionally; but I'm not sure what the linux equivalent of having users shared accross devices is (windows is domain controller iirc)

I'm thinking I'll make some nfs shared drives and for the shared login from sever I keep drawing blanks on what that is called in linux so I'm not finding tutorials

sorry if its a dumb question

7 Comments
2024/12/21
16:40 UTC

0

HP N54L 19" rackmount faceplate

Anyone come across anything to make a pair of HP N54L microservers look more stealthy in a 19" rack?

I'm no 3d printimg designer or expert so can't do myself.

0 Comments
2024/12/21
16:09 UTC

0

Help me connect 2 MacBooks to 1 monitor

Hi everyone.

I'm looking to connect 2 MacBooks to a monitor. Mac1: M3 Mac2: M4

I'm torn on what to choose because I want to be able to both see what's happening in both screens, as well as switch the mouse/keyboard control as fast as possible.

So options are:

  1. Apple Studio Display with a KVM switch and i put the MacBooks on the side to see what's happening. I believe you can't hook up 2 MacBooks to Apple Studio Display.

In this case i'd need a KVM recommendation. Keyboard+Mouse I'll probably buy Logitech MX.

  1. A widescreen monitor (max 43") with PiP so I can see both screens. In this case I think I would only need Logitech's MX keyboard to switch between one Mac or the other? I'm not sure about this, though.

Budget is not an issue. The closest I can get to option 1 in terms of display quality, the better.

0 Comments
2024/12/21
15:58 UTC

1

HP Proliant Microserver Gen 10 Plus with E208i-p only seeing two drives

I have a Proliant Microserver Gen 10 Plus here with a Smart Array E208i-p controller. The box has four slots for SATA drives, but it will only recognise drives plugged in to the left-hand slots (0 and 1) and ignores any others.

Is there some activity I need to do in order to make use of the other two slots? The PCI card itself has two ports and I'm wondering if they're each limited to two drives.

0 Comments
2024/12/21
15:41 UTC

1

How to capture metrics about each hop that a packet takes as it traverses through your HomeLab

I want to upgrade my HomeLab from 1GB to 2.5GB. Before doing this, I want to take benchmarks with my current setup so I can verify that the upgrade works when the time comes.

I am trying to get the time it takes for a packet to traverse between each device in my network. For example, I want to measure the time for each hop from my host machine -> switch A -> switch B -> gateway.

When I run traceroute, for any of those IP addresses, I only get host machine -> gateway -> device, not the intermediate routes. When I run ping, I am finding that the response is faster with the gateway IP than it is when I ping each switch indeoendently.

How can I appropriately benchmark this? I expect I need to monitor at layer 2 but what is the best practice to do this?

1 Comment
2024/12/21
15:12 UTC

0

Research Hasn't Helped

I've watched videos and done a lot of reading and googling, but it's hard to truly pin down actual differences between

Asus Rt-ax82u Asus rt-ax5400 Asus TUF ax5400

Can anybody tell me the difference?

Also, which is closer to EOL?

Which one is newest release?

Compare to Tp-Link Archer axe5400?

1 Comment
2024/12/21
15:02 UTC

110

My small homelab after I got an early Xmas present

I was running everything on a docker swarm hosted on 4 raspberry pi and a Lenovo p52 running proxmox and a few VMs. My wife thought nextcloud and immich were too slow so she said she's buying me (one would argue buying herself) an upgrade with current hardware. I love her.

Top right corner is a Asus NUC 14 Pro Plus, i7 155H, 96 Gb DDR5 5600 and 4 Tb storage. I installed proxmox on it, restored all my VMs from backups, and created a new one for docker. Moved all my containers to this new VM.

Nextcloud is now blazingly fast! Along with everything else I'm hosting. And I kind of love it so much that I'm thinking about getting two more of the same and turning proxmox host into a cluster, and reconfiguring docker back into a swarm with one node on each host.

More pressing is a network upgrade to at least 2.5 gig, potentially 10 gig. And maybe a larger rack.

Thankfully got a substantial bonus from work this year.... This is gonna get expensive.

9 Comments
2024/12/21
14:57 UTC

8

How do you expose your services externally? Why?

I was using cloudflare tunnels, but recently switched to exposing ports through NPM and lets encrypt. Wondering what people are doing out there nowadays.

If you have a VPN to connect locally, only chose the VPN option if that is the only way to get to your home network from outside.

Please add your reasons in the comments

View Poll

28 Comments
2024/12/21
14:55 UTC

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